Sepp Straka carded an eight-under 64, including three birdies and two eagles on par 5s, to move into the lead on Saturday at the Hero World Challenge and head into the final round one shot clear of Scottie Scheffler.
Straka chipped in for eagle on the par-5 sixth and later holed an 18-foot eagle putt on the downwind 15th. He also played the par-5 ninth perfectly, hitting a 3-wood that ran out to 15 feet for a two-putt birdie. The Austrian was bogey-free and finished at 18-under 198.
“At the start he definitely got it going quick,” Straka said of world No. 1 Scheffler. “It didn’t look like he was going to miss a putt there for a little bit. But it’s golf, it usually evens out a lot and I just tried to focus on my own game.”
Straka trailed Scheffler by three through five holes and by two with four to play before closing strongly. The only par-4 he birdied was the seventh, where moved-back tees made the hole a wedge test to a difficult back-left pin; Straka hit to seven feet and converted.
Scheffler, seeking a third straight title at Albany Golf Club, shot a 65 and sits at 16 under, set to play in the final group with Straka on Sunday. He rattled off five straight 3s early in the round — an eagle, two birdies and two pars — and was nine under for the day through 15 holes. But he has again faltered late in the round this week: a double bogey on the 16th on Thursday, a bogey on 16 on Friday, and a bogey-par-bogey finish on Saturday.
On 16 on Saturday Scheffler found short grass but then had an awkward stance, tugging his shot left into a bunker where the ball buried, resulting in bogey. He also dropped a shot on the 18th after missing the green to the right, leaving a difficult pitch up a slope with water guarding the hole. “A few unfortunate breaks, but overall did some really good stuff,” Scheffler said.
Alex Noren (67) and Hideki Matsuyama (68) are three shots back of Straka, while JJ Spaun and Wyndham Clark shot 69s and sit four behind. Continued coverage of the Hero World Challenge airs on Sky Sports Golf from 4.30pm on Sunday.